Dave510

Just got the new Aeroplan membership card and luggage tags in the mail, and the luggage tags are pretty useless, but Air Canada could offer a pretty nice perk to members if the tags had a "In case of lost luggage, please contact Aeroplan at: (xxx)xxx-xxxx" and have a unique identification number that's different from the member's Aeroplan number.

The identification would be linked in ACs system to the Aeroplan number and profile (including address) of the member. This way if you luggage is lost, your name, Aeroplan number and address would be protected, but your luggage can easily find their way to you if it wasn't stolen, and the tags would be useful beyond DYKWIA.

Adam Smith

I would love to see them do this. Fairmont used to do it.

jjclancy

So did trackitback!

Dave510

Nice, figures there are businesses that provide this service. I imagine it would cost AC much less to run something like this though, since they already have most of the ingredients (personalized luggage tags, database with up to date customer contact, call centers, worldwide offices etc.).

If a business can run this service for $1.5 per month subscription and turn a profit, then I it should cost AC very little to run this program, but provide significant help to their customers (when they likely need it most).

I hope AC reads these forums!

garykung

Don't see how helpful that can be.

FWIW - the baggage tag is unique to each baggage. So another unique identifier does not seem like necessary.

Adam Smith

You're assuming a bag would only be lost when it had a baggage tag on it. Bags can be misplaced many places other than between when they're checked in and then they come out at arrivals. Carry-on bags can also be misplaced.

garykung

But even with a personalized baggage tag, the tag can be still off from the baggage during transport.

Also - FWIW - if a carry-on baggage is lost, the owner has him/herself to blame.

IluvSQ

Not always - remember those reports a few years ago on (mainly Asian) airlines that carry-ons were being pilfered or stolen
while most passengers were asleep?

Adam Smith

So what? If something breaks, it doesn't work. True of just about anything. Should I not buy a car because it might break down, or not buy a cell phone because it might get smashed?

I'm not sure why your perspective is so narrow on this. (a) Whether the owner is at fault or not, owners would probably like to have their bags returned to them, with which this proposed service could help, and (b) have you ever left a bag at a bell desk at a hotel because you had to check out well before your flight? What if someone who has the same bag, or a nearly identical one, accidentally takes your bag off the luggage rack on a train by mistake? There are plenty of scenarios in which the owner of a bag, whether carry-on or not, is not necessarily at fault for the bag going missing.

Not sure a tag helps if the bag is stolen, since the people who take it aren't exactly likely to want to turn it in.

dr_torch

I'm not sure that AC's IT system can link anything. It's actually a filing cabinet with a couple of co-op students fetching records upon request

canadiancow

Sky check, gate check, etc etc etc.

lcohen999

I would like to see QR / RFID coded tags where you don't need to bag and tag. It is already tied to that code (like QF does)

lincolnjkc

A few years ago, IIRC, LH was ?trying? something in conjunction with one of the luggage manufacturers where the luggage had an e-ink display (so power only required when the display is changed otherwise the information is persistent and no need for something scary like the Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries that got smart bags banned). I think the idea was that you'd use NFC from your phone after you checked in to "beam" the luggage tag to your bag -- avoiding the need for a separate bag tag that could get torn off, etc. and also meaning, conceptually, at least you could just drop your bag at a counter with no wait.

I was sad that that seemed to disappear -- maybe it was too early or too closely related to the smart bag scare -- but I think that would make a lot of sense long-run.

Or if IATA created some kind of global unique bag identifier standard where you could just apply a permanent, airline-neutral, globally unique identifier to your luggage -- perhaps at manufacturing -- and use that instead of generating a new temporary identifier for every trip.

Transpacificflyer

I don't understand why there is a need for another number. The AP is unique to each customer is not?
When I travel with AC, my itinerary is linked to my AP number. Call up my AP number and look at activity, and any trip booked or in progress should show. Therefore, if AC had my bag with its AP number, it could contact me either by phone, sms or email and advise that it had my bag.
In respect to additional RFID or other additional identifying feature, I expect that for every enthusiastic embracer, there would be someone worried about spying, loss of privacy, alien lizard creatures etc. who would object and complain.

Bohemian1

I'm pretty sure that the only "alien lizard creatures" I've seen were flying into LAS.